Evolution and climate adaptation

Global climate is changing rapidly and the degree to which natural populations respond to the associated temperature variation is essential for predicting the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Individuals can adjust to temperature variation through behaviour, acclimation responses, and/or evolutionary mechanisms. In a project led by Dr. Susana Clusella-Trullas of Stellenbosch University, we will generate a predictive framework for how climate change drives evolutionary adaptation, and how this is likely mediated by behaviour, in terrestrial ectotherms.

Photo credit: Michael Logan

Project overview

This study will use the southern rock agama lizard (Agama atra) as a model organism to examine key questions of thermal adaptation. Agama atra is a territorial lizard that lives on rock outcrops throughout much of South Africa. This species is abundant, can be easily reared in the laboratory and has extremely high site fidelity such that the same individuals can be repeatedly observed at a single locality in the field. We propose to study how thermal phenotypes of individual lizards relate to relative fitness using an integrative approach that combines laboratory physiological assays with detailed field observations and next-generation DNA sequencing.